France/Algeria

Raï star Cheb Mami on trial for forced abortion claim

Article published on the 2009-07-02 Latest update 2009-07-02 11:41 TU

Singer Cheb Mami performing in Paris.
(Photo: Reuters)

The trial of “the Prince of Raï” Cheb Mami opened Thursday in the Parisian suburb of Bobigny. The Franco-Algerian singer returned to France after two years on the run in Algeria, and faces charges of attempting to force a girlfriend to abort her pregnancy.

If found guilty, he could face ten years in prison and be forced to pay a 150,000-euro fine.

Mami, whose real name is Mohamed Khelifati, appeared in court at 10am, and defended himself by saying that he was manipulated by his entourage into agreeing to the idea.

“The biggest error of my life was to have followed the bad advice of my Jewish manager,” he said.

The victim, whose identity has not been released to the media, says that she was forced to go to a villa in Algiers after she told the singer that she was pregnant with his baby. There she was drugged and two women and a man attempted to perform an amateur abortion on her. The abortion failed and she gave birth to a girl in 2006. Upon her return to France, she reported the incident to police.

Among the evidence presented in court is a recording that the victim secretly made of Cheb Mami, during which he admits to having been present during the failed abortion attempt.

Mami was jailed for three months in Paris before posting a 200,000-euro bond and fleeing to Algeria in 2007.

French police, working with Interpol, issued an international warrant for the singer’s arrest, and after months of wavering, Mami agreed to come to France to face his accuser. He was arrested on Monday at Orly airport, south of Paris.

Since the beginning of the affair, the singer, who started his career 23 years ago in the same Parisian suburb where he is now standing trial, has dropped out of the limelight, refusing to perform or record a single song.